Friday, January 25, 2008

I know I'm not alone in feeling tres heureux when I think of "Carol" (Margo Martindale) and her broken French in Alexander Payne's section of the omnibus film Paris Je T'Aime.

And she's now a film bitch nominee for Best Actress in a Limited or Cameo Role along with one large and in charge manager, a lost actress, a widow and a guilt ridden woman. Did these women catch your eye with their brief roles ... or were you looking elsewhere when it came to the edges of the movies?

But back to "Carol" and Margo Martindale for a second. She was so sweet and sad and simple and self aware (only not ?) as Carol in 14ème Arrondissement, that perfect length gem within the Parisian film, that when it was over I immediately started wishing her into other movies.

18 comments:

My favourite segments were the last one and Maggie Gyllenhaal's. Lots of the pieces didn't fit together, but those two stood out to me. Oh, also the one with Gena Rowlands! I could watch that lady in anything.

An actress who I thought got very little attention this year was Sylvie Testud in La Vie En Rose. I had forgotten about her myself until I spotted her in a French/Georgian film called "Legacy" that I watched earlier, and remembered how good she was in the Piaf film.

Redgrave was my own win for Best Supporting Actress; whereas Morton in The Golden Age gets my win for best cameo. Where screentime is concerned, I guess I should probably switch those; but where the significance to the film is, I think Redgrave is securely a supporting role.

Very nice list, too!

I wonder if you would've included Caroline Sihol from A Girl Cut in Two had it been eligible.

As of just last week Zooey's IMDb page had her listed as still set to play Janis Joplin in The Gospel According To Janis, but now the listing has vanished from her page. The page for Gospel still mentions her name in the "plot outline" but I'm starting to think this movie may never happen. I agree that Zooey needs a musical, dammit!

Great picks for the cameo categories. Although Deschanel above Parker for me in Jesse James. I just loved the film's coda - a lot of it was due to Affleck and Deschanel's work there.

Yay to see Vanessa Redgrave here!

Margo Martindale and Maggie Gyllenhaal were indeed excellent in Paris, je t'aime, but how about Juliette Binoche, Catalina Sandina Moreno and Elias McConnell? (God, I need to watch that/those film[s] again - better than I gave them credit at first).

Also no room for Natalie Portman in The Darjeeling Limited/Hotel Chevalier? She was awesome, riffing on her cool to great effect.

Agreed about Julianne Moore. Apparently she nailed whoever she was meant to be in that film - now that's mimicry for you... Maybe Nathaniel is scolding his goddess for attempting anything as self-debasing as mimicry??

yeah Julianne Moore was really wonderful in her very small role in "I'm Not There"... she really got the point with her performance, it was funny, well-nuanced, great mimicry. This is a sign that she will come back to her greatness (although film experience also called her the "worst actress of the year")....-I'm so excited for her performances in "Savage Grace" and ESPECIALLY in "BLINDNESS"...!